The alien confuses me, though

I’m not an art critic. I don’t have an eye for appreciating line and space and all those other things I would’ve learned about had I not dropped my Art 101 class.

That said, this bit of street art seems kind of blah to me:

Lumping Reagan and Thatcher together in critical street art is a little dated, no? Perhaps this would’ve meant more back in 1980. Lampooning Steve Jobs would have more impact today. Also, a 9/11 reference with “666” in it? Come on, that feels less edgy artist and more crazy-homeless-guy-I-try-to-avoid.

Satan orchestrated the attacks?

I’m not trying to be a hater. It just seems like a bit of a messaging problem. Are we anti-money? Anti-deceased-world-leaders? Anti… aliens?

What the hell is going on with the alien?! I get the slavery symbol and the Masonic eye, and I kind of get the snake (it’s in the title!); but what does an alien have to do with anything? I mean, it looks cool. Again, this is no critique of technique (rhymes!). I’d be pretty excited if our money looked this nice. I just don’t really believe there’s any actual anger here.

Que?

Its geographical placement is potentially interesting — it’s situated along Sunset Blvd., facing Sunset Junction, a shopping strip where one can buy expensive coffee from Intelligentsia and fancy cheese from the Silverlake Cheese Shop. Is it a message against consumerism? I’d buy that more if the painting popped up overnight — something to shock hipsters and yuppies upon waking and skateboarding to work. As it is, I saw it being painted in the middle of the day, the workspace cordoned off by cones. Clearly, this was sanctioned work. Which makes me wonder, was the artist paid?